Recovery=Pampering? Crossfit and rugby, so many questions

While the clock ticks away and I wait for the moment that I get my paycheck and can leave for the airport (and pray that my flight from ATL to PHL is on time and without incident), I've been trolling the internet for ideas that will inform the transformation of our garage to home gym. And I stumbled upon some Crossfit stuff along the way.

I know there are some big time Cross-Fit fans out there, so I encourage you to speak your peace. But I have to wonder just a little bit about some of the training philosophy.

In this article, written by the founder of Crossfit, the author states that 'those most inclined to worry and ask about “overtraining” are about as likely to set a new record in the Olympic Decathlon as they are to ever overtrain' . He also states that 'If we clump the recuperative modalities together as “pampering” what my clinical practice suggests is that the pampered athletes are generally performing below the 50-percentile mark. Those most inclined, for instance, to yoga, meditation, and chiropractic treatment are not our fire-breathers.'

So recuperative modalities, among them listed as stress control, massage, sleep, contrast hydrotherapy, hydration, recreation, stretching, and chiropractic treatment, qualify under the Crossfit model, as pampering.

REALLY.

While I agree wholeheartedly that mental toughness is developed under intensely anearobic activities, the leap to treat recuperative techniques as 'pampering' is a little out there. It's so easy for us as coaches to leap right into the blame game, and shout out that the unsuccessful player of the unsuccessful team simply 1) wasn't trying hard enough 2) didn't want it enough or 3)isn't mentally tough enough, instead of identifying specific weaknesses and creating specific plans for improvement.

A friend of mine who coaches at a very high level tells me that she almost always needs to reduce the amount of time and the number of repetitions that players do in training, in order to improve quality and get tangible results. The cross fit philosophy seems in contrast to this ...

At its core, the methods that drive Crossfit are stated as being "empirical". It's an interesting choice of words, with definitions that are someone in conflict...

em·pir·i·cal –adjective
1. derived from or guided by experience or experiment.
2. depending upon experience or observation alone, without using scientific method or theory, esp. as in medicine.
3. provable or verifiable by experience or experiment.

Basically, its the "it worked for me and for others, therefore it's valid" argument.

I can't even count the number of players who define a workout as "good or bad" based upon how hard they breath or how close to vomiting they get. Crossfit clearly appeals to this personlaity type. Think you're tough? Not unless you do our workout you aren't!

Quick, let me jump on board and do pullups and squats till I vomit. I'll show you tough!!!

Is this sort of training intensity good on a regular basis? Shouldn't the training be gaged by the on-field results? Will training to that level exhaustion translate to on field results?

So does Crossfit have it's basis in science or not? Does it have a place in rugby? Will it make you faster, better at tackling, or more evasive? Should we use it for general fitness or for developing mental toughness?

And to the bigger question, is harder, faster, MORE MORE MORE the answer to all our training woes? Are recuperative methods "pampering", and if so, does it matter?

If you've got personal experience you'd like to share, I'm all ears.

Truth

I found an article on KR's blog about reporting to boards, giving speeches, etc. He in turn is quoting from a gentleman named Peter Guber, who's a movie producer, who essentially deals with "stories". The article speaks of four truths when storytelling, making speeches, delivering reports, etc.

For me personally in my coaching career, the concept of "truth" is way more complicated than I'd like it to be. There's always got be be a balance. We've got to edit ourselves, choose our words wisely, tailor what we say to the individuals we work with, and find a way to always go forward, whether the truth is something positive or negative.

You know what I mean - maybe you're working with a player who just can't catch to save her life. Tell her that and you've lost her forever. Maybe your have a player who stands out head and shoulders above the rest - communicate that truth too often, and before long you're playing favorites.

Add the that the fact that all of our individual "truths" are colored by our past experiences, perspective, and supporting info. What might be
"true" to me could be completely untrue to someone else. It's a delicate balancing act that I will likely struggle with forever.

For those of us who choose to coach, "truth" is something that we dole out, when and where it's appropriate, in a delivery mechanism that we hope will work for the widest group of players. I found the four basic points below to be really insightful ideas about how truth applies to communications.

# Truth to the teller. Yes, authenticity again. Show and share who you are with an open heart.

# Truth to the audience. It’s Value for Time. They give you their time on the understanding that you will give them emotional value and personal insight.

# Truth to the moment. Be prepared and then – improvise. The preparation will ensure you don’t lose focus. The improvisation will make sure you don’t lose your audience!

# Truth to the mission. Don’t even try to inspire people to do something you don’t believe in yourself. They won’t believe in it either.

USA 7's, International Women's Rugby, Free 7s for participants, show the IRB/USA Rugby your support

Spoke with Julie McCoy, the women's 7s coach yesterday, and she asked me to pass this on, as well as some information regarding the USA 7s tournament. There are two big parts, i'll summarize.

USA RUGBY and the IRB need to SEE that women not only participate, but support their own programs in order for the women's final to be played in Petco park.

There are two ways to do this:

1) If you are going to USA 7's for any reasons, to watch anyone - buy your tickets from Kim Brock at USA Rugby.

2) If you want to play 7s, Kim Brock will help arrange for you to find an opponent and you can play on the 7th/8th ... FOR FREE! That's right FREE!! And then get your spectator tickets to USA 7s through Kim for the big event Saturday.

If we can show enough interest in the women's game, the women's International Final can again be played in Petco Park. That's cool. Let's try and make it happen.

The official words:

As many people already know, the San Diego 7s event in rapidly approaching. It is the largest International rugby event hosted in North America and a stop on the iRB’s 7s World Series. This event will take place on February 9-10 at PetCo Park, home of the Padres, in Downtown San Diego. This event features 16 of the Worlds best 7s teams including New Zealand, Australia, England, South Africa and your USA Eagles!

What you may not know is that on Thursday and Friday the 7-8th there is another event running in conjunction with the San Diego 7s known as the San Diego Invitational. There will be nearly 50 rugby teams in town ranging from youth, high school, collegiate and Masters (AKA old boys). Also, as a part of the San Diego Invitational, there is an International Women’s 7s event featuring teams from Samoa, South Africa, Canada and most importantly, the United States Women’s National team!

Last year the women’s final between the US & Canada was played at PetCo Park in front of 15, 000 spectators who were there to watch the men’s event and we are really hoping for this to happen again. This is a tremendous opportunity for women’s rugby, not only here in the states, but internationally as well. In order to make this happen, USA 7s is asking us to show that the women’s rugby community supports their National Team.

How do we do this?

The San Diego Invitational has all age levels, but for the most part, only male participants. Women’s senior and collegiate teams have not shown interest in participating. I am not sure if this is due to lack of knowledge or interest in the event.


If we, the women’s community, can band together and show that we are participating in the San Diego Invitational and purchasing tickets to the USA 7s event (at a discounted group rate) it will help the USA 7s make the decision to have the women’s final inside the stadium once again.



How does the San Diego Invitational work/how does my team get games?

On Thursday and Friday we have 8 fields available all day long. Your team can challenge another team from a different territory or you can submit your interest to Kim Brock and she will work on matching you up to another team who has shown interest. We can work out a round robin format, short halves, full matches or whatever you want your matches to be in order to get you to the event.

There is NO ENTRY FEE to play in this event!!! PLEASE FEEL FREE TO PASS THIS MESSAGE ALONG TO ANY AND ALL TEAMS WHO MAY BE INTERESTED.

Who knew ... our CEO has a blog

Kevin Roberts of Saatchi and Saatchi, USA Rugby's CEO, is a blogger! Posts span a variety of topics, but there are gem's of rugby everywhere ...

http://krconnect.blogspot.com

Blog updates from England

Haven't seen this out to the public so I thought I'd pass it on ...

http://www.usarugby.org/information/default.asp?NavPageID=67241